the introduction above may very well make sense as we go, look you see. or maybe it shall not. it is entirely possible that you will read no more, not even this part, and thus not give the matter a single calorie of your time in thought.
often, if not always, spontaneous nostalgia can strike one with an element of surprise. well, yes. i mean, by my understanding of the word (term, or phrase) "spontaneous", the implication is unplanned or not scheduled. that would commonly fit in with how just about anyone would define the word surprise, i suppose. but, also, you may not.
whilst out shopping recently (prior to writing this, as opposed to some point in the future), it was so that a requirement was set that i needed to purchase further coffee. this was coffee of both recognised forms, which of course is "instant" and "filter". as i did so, i encountered that third format (or forth, as now that i think, yes, coffee beans), the "coffee bags".
for those of you unaware of, or oblivious to, what this is, well, pretty much what it says on the box. it takes the experience of making tea (with a tea bag) and combines an element of coffee to it. which is to say that "coffee bags" are basically "tea bags", but with the expressed reason of making a cup of coffee this way rather than tea.
yes, of course the immediate attraction was that they were "on special", with the fee (in coins of money) being requested indicated as £2.50 for a box of 10 individually sealed bags. that works out at 25p per cup, which sounds attractive, but is probably actually more of a cost per cup than one would extract from a bag of filter coffee, or a jar of instant. how many cups does one get from either of the alternates? no idea, but i suspect more than ten, so even allowing for the the extra cost of those, you get a higher return of cups. most likely.
is it so that this shall be a kind of review of these coffee bags, then? yes, pretty much. an important question to ask is do you get value for money off of them, or more "bang for your buck". there is every chance i shall give an elaborate answer to this, but for anyone in a rush, well yes, as it happens, these bag things make a really good cup of coffee, so they do, to be sure.
people who are sorely and obviously in need of a better hobby but for now recall things which have appeared here before will know that yes, what i used for this was indeed the rather smart Lenin mug what Spiros got me off one of his many adventures. one of his adventures which was not set in a public bathroom for members of the gentry, hopefully, but i did not ask and also did thoroughly wash it before use.
quite an interesting question to ask is that of who, exactly, thought to make these coffee bag things, and to what end. it is not a product which immediately suggests that it addresses any particular want, need or gap in the world. who is it, i wonder, that felt there was a demand for a form of coffee which takes longer to make that instant, but then also a shorter amount of time required for filter coffee to do its thing? this is what they have delivered to the world.
does the amount of time one spends making a coffee have any bearing on me? not really. well, not entirely true. other than tasting horrendous (it really is a case of image or fashion trumping content), generally i avoid "Starbucks" because they spends so long f*****g around making a basic coffee. should for some reason you have an interest in my morning rituals, well, besides cigarettes, it would feature making an instant coffee to enjoy (and appreciate) whilst i wait for the filter machine to do its thing.
as there's every chance of someone wishing to see all aspects of these "coffee bag" things, well, that image above is indeed a close up, some detail look at the actual item itself. yes, just like you, when i saw these i thought "that pattern is a pretty good, if rudimentary, tribute to the original artwork for One Love by The Stone Roses". no idea if that is why they styled it so, but here it is.
have i ever encountered coffee bags before? yes, hence the "nostalgia" variation mentioned as this all commenced, and of course you would be forgiven for forgetting that aspect. somewhere north (but not south) of 25 years ago (counting back from 2020), it was so that i would often spend time in the presence of a good friend, one of German provenance. we would converse, enjoying cigarettes and coffee, prepared by his mother, made from coffee bags not too different from the ones pictured here. as i could recall that the coffee was absolutely as good as the company (and indeed the cigarettes), well, that's how the nostalgia thing influenced (or directed) the purchase.
is it so that there is a "tea alternate" to this coffee bag concept? quite so, yes, kind of. someone clearly decided that if coffee was going to tread into the world of bags, then tea was jolly well going to march into the territory marked instant, or granules.
no, i have absolutely not ever (knowingly) drunk tea made off of granules. it is possible that at some stage someone tricked or misled me into doing so, be it on a plane, ferry or train, but to my knowledge no. the whole concept of it sounds like an obscene profanity. also, it seems to be just PG Tips what make it, and i have no interest in buying their products unless they bring back the smart adverts where they made monkeys dress in human clothes (in particular bowler hats) and drink the stuff.
whilst i appreciate that this is not in an sequential order (in fact it is a kind of non-linear one), here you go. a picture of the bag (or sachet) which has the coffee bag in, housed in the cardboard box. each such bag seems more or less the same, and is resplendent with instructions as to how one may brew the coffee (or make it) in accordance with the way that them what make it believe is the most appropriate way to do this.
each of us, i would speculate, has an awareness (or recognition) of a drive to be not so wasteful in the world, to cut down with stuff like packaging that is considered to be excessive, if not downright superfluous. i am not at all certain that the makers of this coffee bag business can be accused of such, despite the many layers of packaging giving the face value suggestion of precisely that. from what i can tell, or as far as i can see - and i am no Greta - every effort has been made to make packaging what is necessary to preserve the integrity of the product and yet is entirely possible to recycle, or biodegrade, or whatever.
so, this coffee tastes good, does it? very much so. yes, it does. this coffee has a strong, full bodied flow to it, it does. abrupt without being forceful, strong without being confrontational. just lovely, really. it is a coffee that i would quite enjoy having on a fairly frequent basis, but alas i could never justify the cost involved with having this every day, or near enough.
if it transpires that it is so for this coffee to hold steady at a price (or cost) of £2.50 per box of ten bags, then i might pursue further purchases of it. doing so would be with a view to having it every now and then, when i fancied a treat, or to hold in reserve, on the off chance that anyone ever visited me, and i wished for them to know my appreciation of such an event by presenting them with a really lovely cup of coffee.
ultimately, i suspect, in terms of money vs time, you may well have been better off just buying a box of these so-called coffee bags and experimenting with them than you would have investing the time taken to read my considerations. but, you have done so now, and thank you very much for that. bonus if it has been of any use, or interest.
be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
No comments:
Post a Comment